But even as Gore celebrated his extraordinary 11th-hour resurrection, aides warned the Bush camp not to try to stop the hand count of thousands of Florida ballots ordered by a split Florida Supreme Court.

“Let the count begin,” Gore campaign manager Bill Daley said, as Gore lawyers braced themselves for a constitutional showdown with George W. Bush’s lawyers all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“All of these matters should be resolved by Florida’s judiciary, not by the politicians,” Daley said outside the veep’s mansion last night.

“Al Gore and [running mate] Joe Lieberman pledge to respect the results of this court-supervised vote counting. We urge everyone to respect the will of Florida’s voters and honor the results of the count.”

The Florida high court’s 4-3 ruling gave Gore what he’s been demanding for the past four weeks – a manual count of ballots twice rejected by counting machines – but the veep still faces an uphill battle to wrest the White House from Bush.

The U.S. Supreme Court has chastised the Florida justices over an earlier pro-Gore ruling, and the state Legislature is poised to pick a slate of pro-Bush electors no matter what.

It was a roller-coaster day that started badly for Gore – with two circuit-court defeats before the Hail Mary pass from the state high court.

Daley insisted the victory wasn’t really about Gore and whether he can beat Bush in Florida and win the White House.

“This decision is not just a victory for Al Gore and his millions of supporters. It is a victory for fairness and accountability and our democracy itself,” Daley said as Gore stayed inside and kept out of sight.

The reprieve came as Gore huddled behind closed doors – he went to his West Wing office for part of the afternoon before returning home to wife Tipper – and Democrats on Capitol Hill were muttering about the beginning of the end.

Earlier in the day, New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli urged Gore to give up if the state high court rejected his bid for a recount, and Gore aides were planning how Gore could make a vague statement, followed by a dignified concession speech over the weekend.

Less than two hours later, cheers erupted in Gore’s Tallahassee headquarters – and Gore phoned in to congratulate his lawyers.

Lead lawyer David Boies, who argued the case before the state high court on Thursday, reportedly told the veep, who’s been putting his chances of winning the White House at 50-50: “Four-three’s better than 50-50.”